The fragrance of flowers fills the fields, the grass grows and orioles fly.
It’s spring again.
The suburbs of Yangzhou, by the Slender West Lake.
After crossing the Xixi Bridge and passing through Yangjia Village, the crowds gradually became sparse, but the surrounding scenery became extremely moving. Even if it was warm and cold in early spring, it could not hide the quiet elegance of the flowing water under the small bridge.
Lu Yuan, one of the most luxurious mansions in Yangzhou City, is located here.
Luyuan was once the residence of Lu Chuan, a scholar of the Imperial Academy of the previous dynasty. Over the past few hundred years, it passed through several times and fell into the hands of Mr. Bai, a great salt merchant in Yangzhou.
Now, Mr. Bai's legacy has been taken over by his grandson Gu Tingye, and this Lu Garden will naturally be under Gu Tingye's name.
At this time, a small Cuju competition was going on in the open space in the courtyard.
Cuju was popular in the pre-Qin Dynasty and evolved into many game forms. At one time, it was dominated by the highly confrontational double-goal game. The confrontational nature was quite similar to that of rugby in later generations, and it was deeply loved by soldiers who advocated bravery.
By the time of the Great Zhou Dynasty, "when it comes to romance, there is nothing better than playing football." Cuju has developed into the first national sport. From the princes and nobles to the common people, and even the literati who have no strength to tie a chicken, they are all keen on Cuju.
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Correspondingly, the confrontational and military nature of the Cuju game has gradually been replaced by competitiveness and performance, and it has transformed from a double-goal style to a single-goal "ball-building" and a goalless "ball-playing".
Right now, what is being held in the Lu Garden is a single-goal ball-building competition.
On one side is the "Begonia Team" led by Wei Chen and joined by members of the Haitang Poetry Society.
On the other side, there is the "Lu Garden Team" led by Gu Tingye and joined by all the garden servants.
I saw Wei Chen's anger sinking into his Dantian. He picked up his strength, raised his big foot, and hit the ball with the instep of his foot.
The brown ball drew a graceful arc in the air and shot into the "Fengliu Eye" hanging three feet high in the air.
"The ball is scored, Haitang team scores one point!"
Referee Sheng Changbai's verdict came from the sidelines, and the Haitang team suddenly burst into deafening cheers.
After the ball passed through Fengliu's eye, it fell into the other half of the field. Gu Tingye's scholar Zhique raised his foot and caught it steadily. As if the ball was stuck to his foot, he gently pushed it out and passed it to his teammates unhurriedly.<
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After doing this twice, the ball reached Gu Tingye's feet. Gu Tingye kicked it with such force that the ball deformed. It passed directly through the three-foot-high goal and flew into the far end of the opponent's field before it began to fall.<
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"Out of bounds, out of bounds!" On the Haitang team's side, Sheng Changfeng, Han Yuan and others shouted.
"Inbounds, inbounds!" The Lu Yuan team also started making noises.
In the end, Sheng Changbai on the sidelines waved a small flag and ended the dispute between the two parties.
"Inbounds!"
The Lu Yuan team cheered, while the Haitang team looked annoyed, but they quickly regained their composure and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the game.
In the Haitang team, most of them are officials' children like Sheng Changfeng. They have been influenced by it since childhood and are good at playing football. Their overall level is higher than that of the Luyuan team.
However, Gu Tingye of the Lu Yuan team is the most skilled player on the court. It’s like he has eyes on his feet. He can shoot a powerful, heavy and tricky shot at every turn. Under his leadership, the Lu Yuan team can actually compete with the Haitang team.
There must be comings and goings.
In order to win, both sides tried their best. Here Wei Chen just came with a "kidnapping kick", and there Gu Tingye responded with an "upside down golden hook". The ball flew around and did not land for a long time.
Sheng Changbai, who was on the sidelines, was dazzled by what he saw. At first, he could remain calm and make fair decisions. In the end, he was infected by the warm atmosphere on the court and simply replaced his younger brother and went into battle himself.
Unknowingly, the timer's incense burnt out, and Sheng Changfeng held up a broken gong and struck it randomly, signaling the end of the first half.
Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai came off the field to rest dripping with sweat. When they looked at the scoreboard, they saw that both sides had seven points and the battle was tied.
Sheng Changfeng stepped aside and gave up the folding stool, and asked Wei Chen to sit down. While fanning him, he handed him a clean sweat towel and asked Wei Chen to wipe the sweat from his head and face.
After Wei Chen put the sweat towel on his shoulders, Sheng Changfeng took the water bag from Yuan An, pulled out the cork and handed it to Wei Chen.
Sheng Changbai stood nearby, looking at Sheng Changfeng's attentiveness to Wei Chen, and shook his head helplessly: "Chang Feng, you only know that there is a brother from the Wei family, but you make my second brother feel so embarrassed!"
"Uh, hey hey hey..."
Hearing this, Sheng Changfeng smiled coquettishly, and quickly ran over to wipe Sheng Changbai's sweat, carefully appeasing his second brother's emotions.
On the other side, Gu Tingye also came off the court. He put his hands on his hips, panted heavily, and stared at Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai with murderous eyes: "Xingyun, Zicheng, there are no brothers on the court. Be careful, I won't do it again in the second half."
I'll let you go!"
"I'm afraid I'll let my tongue slip when I talk big!" Wei Chen's eyes were bright and he showed no sign of weakness.
Sheng Changbai smiled: "Zhong Huai, you should worry about yourself!"
Gu Tingye raised his eyebrows: "Stop talking nonsense, see you on the court!"
After the break, the gong sounds again and the second half of the game begins.
Wei Chen moved his hands and feet and was about to play again when he suddenly saw a boy running over from the sidelines in a hurry.
Wei Chen recognized that this was the boy running errands in Qinyun Courtyard. His heart moved and he hurriedly stopped him and asked, "What's wrong? What happened in the courtyard?"
The boy came running all the way, panting and out of breath. He held on to his knees and finally managed to calm down his breath: "Young master, my dear, your amniotic fluid has broken, I'm afraid she's going to give birth!" ……
Qinyun Courtyard, in the main room, Wei Shuyi was lying on the bed, holding the quilt tightly with one hand, gritting his teeth to endure the pain.
Beside the bed, Minglan saw her mother in such pain. She was so anxious but had no choice but to tearfully ask for help from Wenpo Zhao's mother.
Wei Shuyi's delivery date was much earlier than Zhao's mother had previously expected. At this time, Zhao's mother's face was also quite solemn.
However, Mother Zhao has encountered countless more dangerous situations than this, and she has always remained calm in the face of danger.
Raise an army for a thousand days, use it for a while.
Mother Zhao knew very well that Wei Chen and Wei Shu had allowed her to eat and drink in Qinyun Court for so long just for today. Right now, she was the backbone of everyone in Qinyun Court and she must not panic.
"Miss Xiaodie, go to the kitchen quickly and ask Mrs. Zhang to boil water and prepare it. Remember, you must boil a few more pots!"
"Miss Banxia, you take two people and stay in the house with me, and take good care of my little girl."
"Miss Bai Zhi, it's enough for me and Miss Banxia to be in this room. You and the rest of the people will guard the door. Don't let anyone else in!"
When Xiaodie, Bai Zhi, and Banxia heard the words, they all looked at Wei Shu on the bed. Wei Shu nodded with difficulty: "You all listen to Mother Zhao..."
"Yes!"
The three first-class female envoys with the highest status in the courtyard answered themselves, and then hurriedly followed Mother Zhao's instructions and started to move. Those who struck down the hands struck down the hands, those who guarded the door guarded the door, and those who boiled water boiled water.
Minglan also asked Wei Shuyi to drive out of the back room. It wasn't that Wei Shuyi didn't need her daughter's company, she just didn't want her daughter to see her in pain, so she was sad.
Minglan was locked outside the house. She heard her mother's painful low cry from inside the house from time to time. She was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. From time to time, she opened the window and looked into the house, her eyes full of worry for her mother.
"Xiao Tao, have the people who went to notify my cousin come back?"